Collectibles
by Black Zora
Summary: Max is a collector of fancy things. He is especially proud of his collection of fine boys. But then a new boy comes to town, and everything goes terribly wrong. – No vampires here, only some teenagers who experiment a bit too much with mind-altering drugs, and a somewhat immoral Max …
1. Introduction

**Collectibles**

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_Warnings: As the summary states, immoral Max … Mention of homosexuality, male prostitution, substance abuse, and such, but no actual depictions … _

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_Disclaimer: The Lost Boys, sadly, do not belong to me. No money is being made with this._

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_Author's Notes: It was Rae Maxwell's "Edgar Frog – Intake and Violence Risk Assessment" that inspired me to write this one. Check it out, it's a pretty cool story! :-) _

_Mine hasn't much to do with it though; I only took the idea that there never might have been any vampires at all, and changed it into something rather strange … ;-)_

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**1. Introduction**

Max liked his boys wild. He couldn't allow himself to be wild, not openly, for he was a businessman and respected citizen of Santa Carla. So his boys were wild in his stead.

They were all of age now. That hadn't always been the case. David had been barely fifteen when Max found him on the streets, selling his pretty body to ugly men. The boy just couldn't pass the deal Max had to offer. David was almost twenty now and, although he was their leader, the youngest of Max's boys.

Dwayne had come next, hardly a year after David. He had been twenty already, and Max had bailed him out of jail were he had landed after an alcohol induced, particularly violent bar brawl. Dwayne hadn't been easy, but David had instantly taken to him like to an older brother, and Dwayne just hadn't been able to leave after that. He was twenty-four now, and David's second-in-command; ever the calm, thoughtful advisor, ever having his back.

Then there was beautiful, mischievous Marko, who appeared to be far younger than he was, seeming like eighteen at the most, but being actually twenty-one now. Looking like an innocent boy had given him a fair advantage in his former occupation, but he was constantly annoyed by store-owners asking him for his ID to this very day even if he just wanted to buy some cigarettes. Marko had been singled out by Max on a San Franciscan street-walkers' patch a little more than three years ago. He got along great with David – who still was Max's favorite, and likely always would be.

Paul had come last, almost exactly a year ago. He had been pretty much on the ropes by then, a heroin addict since he had been sixteen, so Max supposed it was a good thing that he did hardly more than smoke weed nowadays. That he did a lot though. Paul was twenty-three now. He and Marko had become very close, but he sometimes got severely on the others' nerves – he was so vibrant and full of energy that he never seemed to stop talking, joking, and fooling around. Max was glad that he had picked Paul out of the gutter. Otherwise he would presumably have been dead by now, and that would have been such a waste of radiance and beauty.

In five years, Max had collected four beautiful boys. He had slept with each and every one of them, of course, and he still did – that was part of their agreement. In return, he funded them. He had bought their bikes and their clothes, and still substituted them with money whenever they came to him without asking what they wanted it for.

It had been their own decision to move out of his house and into the cave, or the decision of three of them, for Paul hadn't been among them back then, and Max hadn't fought it. Boys needed rules and a firm hand to enforce them for sure, but they also needed their freedom. The cave was more of a summer residence however, a place that belonged to them and them only. Max never visited without an explicit invitation. Usually the boys came to his house to fulfill their part of the deal, and they still lived with him during most of the wintertime.

There was a new boy in town who had peeked Max's interest, and he had asked David and the others to rope him in, befriending him and making him one of them. He was not of Max's usual clientele; he seemed to have a home and a family who cared for him. Max needed to modify his customary strategy in order to make him part of his collection.

He had seen the boy with what were apparently his brother and mother the day they arrived at Santa Carla, and had been fortunate enough to have the woman stumble into his video shop shortly afterwards. He had offered her a job – and himself. If he got her, then he would have the boy also. And the younger brother intrigued him too …

Besides, boys needed a mother, and Lucy appeared to be perfect for the job. Her older son was nineteen and named Michael, like the archangel, and the younger fourteen and named Samuel, like the prophet. Max was sure that Michael would fit in nicely with his other boys. As for Samuel … well, they simply would have to wait a bit.

Max considered it a good thing now that his boys had taken in a girl and her little brother this summer. They had picked them right off the streets as Max had done to them before. Her name was Star, she was nineteen, and she was rather pretty – probably just the kind of girl Michael would find attractive. Her little brother was ten and nicknamed Laddie. Perhaps, one day, when he was a couple of years older, Max would make him part of his collection as well.

In his own opinion, Max treated his boys fairly decent. They were free to leave any time, but so far, none of them had chosen that option. To Max, that was prove enough that their deal worked for both sides. He couldn't afford being associated with them in public, and their little mocking visits to his shop had become a game of their own, with him kicking them out on an almost nightly basis. Sometimes they played pranks on him, but that was quite alright. He wouldn't have wanted them tame and lame.

Nevertheless, Max had to admit that a mother_ really_ might do them good. Even Star's influence appeared to calm them down a bit, and they took better care of her little brother than Max had expected. He knew that all of the boys had slept with Star, and that was okay by him; he wasn't particularly jealous as long as they still shared his own bed from time to time.

In spite of that juicy bit of promiscuity, Star was generally considered as David's by the gang – but David did share almost everything with his brothers. Max wasn't so sure if Star liked the arrangement, but he didn't feel overly responsible for her. She was old enough, she could choose for herself. As long as the boys weren't abusive towards her, he saw no reason to interfere.

Max had gone through a lot with his boys, namely with David, who had been still so young but yet so very much rebellious when Max had taken him in, and Paul. In the beginning, all but Dwayne, who had never prostituted himself, had been dragged by him to a doctor he was friends with, in order to give them a thorough check-up and treat the various nastinesses they had gotten themselves infected with. He had had to lock up Paul in his house not only for days, but weeks for detoxification, drugging him with codeine instead of heroin, and leaving him in the care of the other boys when working at his shop.

They all had been pretty scarred when he took them in, distrusting everyone, and always expecting the worst. He had tried to give them reason to trust him and each other, and encouraged their various ways of expressing themselves, even their rebellious streaks.

His boys all owed him. He cared for them in many ways, and probably still would have looked after them and funded them even if they had refused to cater to his sexual needs and desires, though, naturally, he would never have told them so.

Another thing that he would never have told them was that he truly, madly, and deeply loved them. David, Dwayne, Marko, Paul – each and every one of his boys.

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_To be continued ... _


	2. A Perfect Storm

**Collectibles  
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_AN: A word on statutory rape: Only David was under age when Max took him in, and it is stated nowhere in my story that they had sex while he was still younger than eighteen. If you choose to think so, that's entirely your thing. Max's other boys were nineteen to twenty-one when he found them, and they all are between twenty and twenty-four by now. I think they should qualify as adults, even if they don't always act their age. ;-)_

_Max using Lucy to get to her boys is another matter though ..._

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**2. A Perfect Storm**

A week passed with Max and the boys trying to win the new one over in various ways. David had started befriending Michael, inviting him to the cave, and dragging him along for several boyish activities that were probably both stupid and a little bit dangerous. Max had had several dates with Lucy, which were all thoroughly ruined by her younger son, who seemed to highly dislike Max. The summit had been an evening at Lucy's, where Samuel and two funky little friends of his had run several completely ridiculous tests on Max, apparently honestly convinced that he was a vampire. Samuel clearly had fallen in with the wrong crowd.

Max knew those funky boys pretty well. They were the sons of a pair of constantly drugged up hippies who owned a comic book store on the Boardwalk. The boys had run the shop almost entirely on their own since they had been round about ten. They had to be fifteen or sixteen by now. Max highly suspected them to pilfer some of their parents' drugs. In fact, he had seen them smoking weed in the backyard of their shop several times, and once even crack, if he was not completely mistaken. Thanks to his boys, Max was fairly well informed about different drugs and the various ways they could be administered. To tell the truth frankly, he had even experimented a bit under their guidance.

Max was deeply concerned about Samuel associating with the Frog brothers. Those boys were total nutcases, likely damaged from the moment of conception by the drug abuse of both their parents, then even further ruined by those exact same parents being utterly unable to care for their children. Though they had never had to survive on the streets, and their parents were probably too far gone to ever raise a hand against them, they were as suspicious of adults as Max's boys had been when he took them in. On top of that, they seemed to be psychotic, forcing their crazy beliefs on vampires and other supernatural beings on every unsuspecting customer who dared to enter their shop. Max thought that it was fairly safe even for a layman to speak of a psychosis if a sixteen-year-old still believed in vampires and werewolves.

He planned on telling Lucy about the Frogs at the first opportunity he got. Lucy was such a nice person, she didn't need any more trouble, especially not by her fourteen year old son becoming an addict or developing a mental disorder. Max had also reprimanded his boys for introducing Michael to drugs. He could have lived with them sharing joints and drinking alcohol together, but freebasing was a bit too much. He didn't want his new boy to become a cocaine junkie.

There was also some trouble because Star seemed to be planning on switching David for Michael. Like Max, David had no problem with sharing, but he didn't appreciate being ditched, especially not after catering to Star and Laddie's needs and whims like he had done for the last three months.

That night, Max intended on telling Lucy everything. Well, not exactly _every_ thing, but he planned on telling her about Samuel and the Frogs, about Michael, Star, and his boys (well, sort of about his boys, he really couldn't admit the truth to her now, could he?), and how he planned on making them all into one big, happy family. He had invited her to his home, he had cooked dinner, and he awaited her every moment now.

When Lucy finally arrived, she was sweet and enthusiastic as always, admiring his home and paying him compliments, but she seemed also somewhat agitated. After a bit of prodding, she confessed to have a bad feeling about leaving her boys home alone, since they both had behaved rather strange lately. Max agreed to check on them with her, and they made for the lodge in the hills via both their cars.

When they opened the front door, they stepped into a scene that could have been taken right out of a war site. The living room was a wreckage, shards of glass and pieces of broken furniture littering the floor. Max's heart skipped a beat when he saw Dwayne slumped against the stereo, a feathered arrow sticking out of his upper body. Samuel was still clutching the accompanying bow to his chest.

"Oh my God ..." Max breathed, hurrying over to Dwayne. He was unconscious, but his pulse was steady. The arrow seemed to have missed his heart, but it could well have punctured a lung. It also looked like the stereo had short circuited when Dwayne had stumbled against it, seeking hold. Perhaps he had received an electric shock also.

While Max was still checking on Dwayne, lowering him gently to the ground and laying him into the lateral position, Michael stepped out of an adjacent room. His eyes were wide, his pupils huge. He was clearly under the influence of drugs.

"Where are the others?" Max asked him, his voice trembling. "Lucy, quick, call an ambulance!"

Lucy was at least as shocked as Max, but she hurried off to do his bidding all the same.

Michael had difficulties in articulating himself, but he apparently tried to tell Max that David was in the room he had just emerged from. Max shoved him out of the way, and found himself in what must have been Lucy's old man's taxidermy workshop. There were stuffed animals, hides, forms … and horns. And, _oh God_, there was David, his beloved boy, pierced by a pair of antlers that had gone straight through him, the pointed tips protruding from his chest.

"No ..." Max whispered. David dead? It couldn't be. But then he saw that his chest was slowly rising and falling. He was severely hurt, but still alive.

Max carefully took David's face in both his hands to lightly caress it. "You'll be alright, love," he said quietly into his unhearing ears. "I promise. Help is already on the way."

At that very moment, Lucy entered the room. She stumbled back almost immediately upon seeing David impaled. "Oh sweet Jesus Christ …!" She shook her head repeatedly, as if she could wipe out what she was seeing by doing so. "Michael … Michael, what have you done?!"

Michael mumbled something incoherent and barely audible, leaning on the door jamb for support. Max shoved him aside once more as he made back for the living room.

"Lucy, please stay with David," he said over his shoulder. "He's only unconscious. If he wakes, see to it that he doesn't move. I have to look for the others. Is the ambulance coming?"

Lucy nodded, looking numb.

"Thank God. I think I'm going to call another one."

That he did, informing the paramedics that there were certainly two, likely four or even more severely hurt persons up at the mountain lodge. When he put the receiver down again, straightening his frame, Star was standing next to him. Her face was tear-streaked, and her hands were shaking.

Max took her by the shoulders. "Star, where's Paul? Marko?"

She motioned towards the stairs, apparently too deep in shock to speak. Max took the steps two at a time.

He found Paul in the bathroom, knocked out and floating in a tub full of ice cold water. Max hoisted him up and laid him down on the white tiles. Paul was not breathing.

Max was still trying desperately to squash the water out of his lungs when he heard the siren of the first ambulance. He called out for help, afraid that Paul wouldn't make it, and equally afraid that David or Dwayne or even both might die if they didn't get professional help immediately. A minute later, two paramedics stormed into the room and took over.

Max rose on shaky knees. Where was Marko? How were David and Dwayne? Why did the other ambulance take so long? And what the Hell, _what the Hell _had happened here? He stumbled out of the bathroom, away from the struggle for Paul's life, and into the corridor. He had to lean against the wall and close his eyes for a minute.

Perhaps it turned into more than a minute, for he was shocked into alertness by the siren of another ambulance. Max was not a religious man, but now he prayed, quickly and silently, that they would be able to save all of his boys. He went through all the upstairs rooms in his search for Marko, but found no living soul.

Then the paramedics hurried past him with Paul on a stretcher.

"Success! He'll make it!" one of them called to Max in passing, and Max prayed once again. This time, it was a prayer of thanks.

Slowly, Max went down the stairs again and into the living room. There, another pair of paramedics was occupied with Dwayne, lifting him carefully onto a stretcher.

"Will he be alright?" Max asked timidly.

One of the men nodded. "The arrow has punctured his lung; he will have to undergo surgery, but he seems fairly stable. I'm sure he'll make it."

Max could only nod. "What about David?" he asked. His voice sounded weak and hoarse in his own ears.

"The lady of the house just made another phone call for additional help. We checked on him, but couldn't do much more than give him injections to stabilize his circulation and to keep him under for now. We need someone with special equipment to cut those antlers loose. They're on their way."

Max nodded again. He felt slightly dazed as he turned and went into the kitchen. There he met with Star, Laddie, Michael, Nanook, Samuel, and the Frog brothers. The latter three were smeared with dirt and splatters of blood.

"Where is Marko?" Max asked no one in particular, his voice frail with dread.

Although Samuel was apparently only a breath away from a nervous breakdown, his face a sickly greyish color and his whole frame shaking as a leaf, he was the first to answer. "Cave ..." he muttered.

Max did not wait to hear more, but turned on his heel and dashed off to his Corvette. He met the third ambulance on the driveway.

He rushed the Corvette out to Hudson's Bluff as fast as she could go, not caring whether he ruined the paint job on the gravelly road. Hurriedly, he climbed down the steps and slithered down the slope of the cave's mouth. He was frantically searching for one of the self-made torches the boys kept close to the entrance when he heard a weak voice from out of the shadows.

"Who's there?"

Max's head snapped around. He saw the dim light of a candle further down in the dark.

"Marko! Thank heavens … It's me, Max!"

"I'm glad ya could make it, Max. I'm feeling truly and utterly terrible."

At long last, Max found a torch and kindled it with his lighter. Then he made his way over to the huge four-poster bed where the lonely candle burned. Marko was lying huddled into the sheets, his face pale and scrunched up with pain.

"Marko, my boy … Whatever happened to you?" Max inquired as he carefully extended a hand to first touch Marko's brow, then caress his face.

Marko closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. That alone told Max how upset the boy was. Marko usually brushed such displays of affection off with a wriggle and a joke.

"They … those kids …" Marko began slowly, hesitantly. "They came here and attacked us while we were sleeping. We were partying last night and still pretty much out of it, ya know … Michael was with us – last night, I mean –, but he left before sunrise. I dunno for sure, but I think Michael sneaked Star and Laddie out. Not last night, this afternoon. I dunno why, though, I really don't. If she wanted to leave so badly, why the fuck didn't she just tell us and go? But we never saw Michael, so perhaps she left on her own, taking Laddie with her … It's going to break Dwayne's heart, he loves the little nagger … Paul as well …"

Marko paused, only now opening his eyes and looking at Max in the flickering torchlight. "So I dunno 'bout Michael, but his lil' brother was here for sure, and those freaky comic commando kids. I'm not sure, but I think … I think they actually tried to _kill_ me with a sharpened stick while I was nodding on the couch. They only succeeded in ruining my jacket and piercing me with the fucking thing though. It hurt like Hell, and I think there's still _splinters _in the wound. I woke from the pain, and the others woke from my screaming. David went after the kids, but he came back to check on me when he had chased them out for good. They dressed my wound up as best as they could, and then they left me to seek ya out. That's all I know."

So the boys had tried to get his help before they went to confront Michael and his brother. They had obviously missed him, likely going first to his house because he had told them that he would dine there with Lucy tonight, not finding him there because he and Lucy had been held up at the shop, then perhaps going to the store when he and Lucy had just left …

_What a mess. _

"Max? What's wrong? Has … has something happened to them?" Marko was biting his lip nervously.

"They'll be alright," Max reassured him. "There was a fight, and they were hurt, but they are going to be alright."

If only he could believe it himself …

Marko looked at him searchingly. "Hurt … like, badly hurt?"

Max closed his eyes for a moment. "Yes, Marko. They are badly hurt. Paul had to be reanimated; David and Dwayne both had their lungs punctured and are undergoing surgery right now."

Marko's already large eyes became even larger. He shoved the covers aside and made to stand up, wincing with pain. Max helped him onto his feet and supported him on their way out of the cave. Climbing the steps was a hassle, but they eventually made it to Max's car and sped off towards the hospital.

On arriving, Max first inquired whether all of the boys were still alive and reasonably well. After gaining confirmation, he saw to it that Marko's wound was cleaned (yes, there were _splinters _in it) and bandaged professionally, staying with him all the while in spite of the boy's protests. The other boys had only poured some alcohol onto the wound and wrapped Marko's torso in stripes of cloth that appeared to be torn t-shirts. When Marko was patched up, they went together in search for the others.

As it turned out, they were all still unconscious, David and Dwayne both in intensive care after surgery. Max had to bribe several people to gain access to them, for he was not a family member, and neither was Marko. He sat with each of them for a while, telling them that the others were okay, and that they needn't fear. Marko watched with huge, worried eyes. By now, the boy was totally beat and barely able to stay on his feet.

After nearly two hours at the hospital, Max drove Marko to his house and tucked him into bed. Then he phoned Lucy. It was almost one o'clock in the morning, but the receiver was picked up after the second ring. It was not Lucy who took the call though, but Michael ...

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_To be continued ..._


	3. Rebellion, Resistance, & Reconciliation

**Collectibles**

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**3. Rebellion, Resistance, and Reconciliation**

Max paused for a second, but then he said, "It's Max. Tell me what happened, and why."

"How are they? Will they be okay?" Michael asked in return. He sounded overwrought and miserable.

Max drew a deep breath. "Marko's okay," he answered. "His wound is only superficial. Paul's still out cold. He suffered a heavy concussion, a severe case of hypothermia, and he nearly drowned in that bathtub. He had to be resuscitated."

Michael made a shocked sound at that.

"They want to keep him in hospital for at least five days, maybe longer. David and Dwayne both had to undergo surgery due to a pneumothorax – that's a punctured lung. They are in intensive care and unconscious, and will have to stay in hospital for at least two weeks, likely more. Now you know. So I ask again: What happened, and why?"

There was a long silence. Then Michael moaned, "Gosh, I'm not even sure. Somehow, it all started to go wrong a few nights ago. I … It was only a week that I knew them, but they changed everything … they changed _me _so much … In the beginning, it was cool, but then … at some point, I got scared. Scared of them, scared of the changes I went through."

He paused.

"I was with them almost every night that week, and every night was a party … We had tons of fun, listened to cool music, fooled around, raced the bikes, went to concerts, but … there was also a lot of booze and drugs. I don't even know for sure what it was they gave me … It was all very strange, blurred … I didn't recognize myself, sometimes. I felt so angry, so fierce …"

"Then there were … I don't know if they were hallucinations, or if those things really happened … Now I think they _can't _have been real, but they _felt _real back then. We were on a railroad bridge once, and David dared me to hang from the trestle with them, then jump … I didn't want to jump, but I couldn't hold on any longer, and they all had already gone down … They called out to me, and I let go … I was falling, and then I was floating … Then I was falling again, and lost consciousness. I awoke in my bed the next morning, and had absolutely no idea how I got there. Another night, I woke up and I was floating again, like plastered to the ceiling. I seem to remember that I drifted out of the window, and that Sam pulled me in again … But that _can't _have been real."

"What's more, there was Star, and she told me that she was afraid of David and the other boys, that she didn't want to become like them, and she asked me to help her and Laddie leave. I … we slept with each other, and David didn't seem to mind … He was bossy and possessive towards her, but she also fooled around with the other boys. I didn't know what to think. I _still _don't know what to think."

"David …" Michael made a noise that sounded like an embarrassed cough. "David actually made a move on me, at least I _think _so, and that … well, that … I wouldn't say it_frightened_me, but I was confused as Hell. They all were like that, touchy-feely, constantly groping each other … I never before met guys that behaved like that, and somehow it was cool, because it was so _relaxed_, and then somehow it wasn't, because I didn't know what to _make_ of it."

"Then there was that night when they took me out to the beach, and they assaulted a group of that gang they always brawl with, the Surf Nazis … We took some stuff before we went there, I'm not entirely sure what it was, acid maybe … They attacked those guys; they wanted me to join in, but I only stood by and watched. I was horrified, it got so violent. I think there were knives drawn, and some of the surfers got hurt … But my memory of that one is really fuzzy. Funny things seemed to happen there … s_cary _things … I saw the boys turn into something that wasn't human, and the whole scenery seemed to drown in blood … People were torn apart like in a zombie movie, but a second later, it was only a brawl again, though a damn violent one. I still don't know what was real and what wasn't."

"Then, one night, I nearly attacked my own brother in the bathroom. I would have … I _don't know_ what I would have done to him if it hadn't been for Nanook, his dog. Nanook literally flew at me and bit me, and the pain brought me back to my senses."

"It was all very weird, and everything blurred together. In the end I was so confused and scared that I only wanted out."

"I … I think I made a mistake in telling my little brother part of what had happened. Well … some of what I told him might actually never _have_ happened. He alerted those new found friends of his, the Frog brothers, and we all drove to the cave together yesterday afternoon to fetch Star and Laddie. Those kids acted really weird, but I was used to weirdness by then … I had a giant hangover or something from the party the night before, and half of what they said and did never registered with me. Star was almost knocked out from partying as well; I had to carry not only Laddie, but also her up the steps to the cliff, which was a true hassle in my state. We're lucky that I didn't break all of our necks. I believe I actually passed out after that. I'm afraid Sam drove the car home …"

"Back in the house, I passed out again, and only woke when dusk was falling. The kids were babbling about _them _coming for us. I learned that they had apparently attacked the boys in the cave while I sneaked Laddie and Star out, and hurt one of them … perhaps even _killed _him. I didn't believe the latter though – after all, they were only kids, and David and the others seemed fairly apt at defending themselves."

"Then the Frogs started to blabber something about bloodsuckers and suckmonkeys – Sam had been on _that _trip as well for the last few days, since he had read those horror comics they gave him –, and suddenly, they went after Laddie and Star with … well, I believe it were actual _stakes_."

"Seconds later, all Hell broke loose. I think David and the boys entered the house from various points. Afterwards, we found two broken windows, one on ground level, the other on the first floor. I don't know what exactly went on upstairs, where Star, Laddie, the Frog kids, and Paul were, only that there was a lot of screaming involved, and that it ended with Paul lying knocked out in the tub."

"Dwayne attacked me and my brother in the sitting room. He was livid. I had never before seen him anywhere near angry, and it was truly terrifying. He gave me no time to explain anything, he just kicked me in the head, and it was lights out for me. When I came to again, Dwayne was screaming his lungs out – well, sort of. His mouth was wide open, and he looked as if he was in a Hell of pain, but almost no sound came out, just a bit of wheezing and blubbering, drowned out by the music … It was horrible. Sam had shot him with my bow, and he had stumbled back into the stereo, accidentally turning it on. I don't know why it short circuited, but he got a nasty electric shock on top of everything else and was knocked out cold. Then all lights went out. I think some fuse blew."

"Suddenly, there was David, like rage personified, and we fought. He was so furious, I thought he might murder me. I was also afraid for Sam and what David might do to him. I didn't know if Sam had actually managed to kill Dwayne, and Dwayne was very close to David … I didn't mean to slay him, or even hurt him, I just defended myself. He said something about not wanting to kill me, and that I should join them, and I got the distinct impression from that one that he was really prepared to off me. That decided it for me, and I pushed him into my grandpa's workroom and onto those antlers … I'm really, _really _sorry, but I saw no other way. I was honestly convinced that he was ready to tear both me and my brother to pieces if I didn't knock him out somehow."

Max was a bit beat by all that information, so there was another long silence.

Finally, Michael asked, "Are you still there?"

"Yes. Yes, I am."

"May I ask you something?"

"Whatever …"

"How do you even know the boys?"

Now that was a tricky one. But if he played his cards right, it might actually become an advantage. He still wanted Michael, all things considered.

After a short pause, Max replied, "You could call me their benefactor, if you like."

"Benefactor? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I scraped them off of the streets, and now am funding them and their carefree lifestyle. In return for certain … services."

Silence again.

Then Michael asked in a quiet voice, "You were never after my mother, were you?"

Max drew a deep breath. It was now or never. "Lucy is a very charming and truly lovely lady, but no, you're right. I wasn't after her."

Another pause. This one stretched out for nearly a minute.

Then Michael said, "I knew from the beginning that something was off about you. And … about the boys too."

"Well, now you know what we are. Are you very appalled?"

Michael snorted. It was almost a laugh. "After last week, and especially last night, I don't think I have it in me any more to be appalled by anything. Not now, at least. But if they all are … well, you know what, then what about Star? I saw them all messing around with her in one way or the other …"

"The boys, Dwayne excluded, all sold themselves at some point in their lives to survive. That doesn't mean that they're exclusively gay, or gay at all, at that. Marko maybe, but I don't think the others are. I am, though. Well, almost."

"Okaaay … I don't think I wanted to know that one." Michael sounded a bit embarrassed. "So you're paying them, and they …?"

"So I'm giving them money whenever they ask me for it, and don't bother to inquire why or what they need it for. So I bought them the bikes they craved. So they may share my home whenever they like. So they are free to leave any time they choose to. So they can live the life they want without anyone interfering – sleep all day, party all night, be young, have fun. In my eyes, that's a pretty good deal in exchange for some sex now and then."

Max paused for a second, making sure that his seductive smile could be heard through the following words. "Wouldn't you agree, Michael?"

Michael coughed again. This time, the sound came nowhere near a laugh. "Listen, Max, it's getting very late … I think I should go to bed now. Perhaps" –

"We still have a terrible mess to sort out together, Michael. We both don't want anyone involved in this perfect storm to go to jail or something like that for attempted homicide or other nastinesses, now, do we?"

"What about possession, consumption and sharing out of illegal substances, consuming alcohol while underage, unlawful entry, damage to property, criminal assault, and, oh yes, attempted homicide as well – on their side?"

"You also did consume drugs, drink alcohol, trespass in the cave" –

"I'm sure they aren't even allowed to live there!"

"Would you want the authorities to drive them out and seal the place up?"

Michael hesitated. Then he said, "No. No, I wouldn't want that."

"I didn't think so. I believe we are at a draw here, Michael. All you boys misbehaved, and all of you, even your little brother, might go to jail for it. Possession and consumption of illegal substances might be enough for that, and you're not the only one who took strange pills during the last week …"

"_He didn't!"_

"Well, ask the Frogs what they gave your little brother to turn him into an apt believer in the supernatural …"

Michael hissed angrily into the receiver.

"Michael, listen to me. I think we should sort things out with each other before we are confronted by the authorities. We should … _synchronize_ our stories. It was all a very unlucky misunderstanding, wasn't it? Samuel believing that you were in actual danger from the boys; you overdoing it a bit with alcohol and drugs; Star thinking that she and Laddie weren't free to leave any time they chose to; the Frogs giving Marko a nasty scratch; David, Dwayne and Paul coming to your house to talk to you and sort things out, while you all thought they had come to take Star and Laddie back forcibly and beat you guys up … You and your brother defending yourselves against an imaginary threat and thereby hurting my boys badly …"

"It was _not _an imaginary threat! They broke into our home, smashing the fucking _windows_! Dwayne went right for my throat! David was ready to murder me!"

Max felt his own anger rise as Michael's voice gradually increased in volume. He retorted, "Don't you think it enough that you almost killed three of them?! Dwayne and David both had their lungs punctured, one by an arrow, the other by freaking _antlers_! Paul had to be reanimated! Do you really want them to go to jail on top of that?!"

Michael fell silent at once. "No," he eventually admitted. "No, I don't want that."

Max draw several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. "Good. I'm glad we're of the same opinion here," he replied at long last, his voice controlled again. "Now that we've settled that one, let's start to think about what to tell the authorities …"

It took them a while, but in the end they agreed on a common story and to instruct the others about it. The Frogs would be difficult and probably not agree to play along, but every official with half a brain would see that they were completely off their rocker once they started to brag about vampires, ghouls, and werewolves.

Max also repeated his offer to Michael. "I think David would still take you in. I'll talk to him. He overdid it with the drugs, and he overreacted in the end, and he'll see that it was at least partly his fault that everything went so terribly wrong. He should have guided you more, looked after you. I'm sure we'll sort that one out, too. You'd be a great match for the boys. And what goes for them would go for you also. You want a new bike? Some cool clothes? Name it, and I'll pay for it. You'd never have to collect trash on the beach again to earn some measly dollars …"

There was another long stretch of silence. Then Michael asked slowly, tentatively, "And I would have to do exactly what ...?"

"Please understand that I won't force you into anything. If you don't trust me on that one, go ask the boys about it. We would take it slow, see what you're comfortable with, and do only that. Take one step at a time, you know? If you don't like it, you can leave. Any time. Sounds fair?"

"I … Yeah ... Well … Maybe ..."

Max smiled to himself. Michael was hooked. It wouldn't do to pressure him now.

_Just let him think about it for a while ..._

So Max changed the subject. "Maybe you could do me a favor and talk to Star. She seems to have misunderstood some things. I would be sorry to see her leave with bad blood between her and the boys."

"Yeah ... I can do that ..."

"Thank you. It's much appreciated."

After a pause, Max added, almost as an afterthought, "Ah, and I _did _mean what I said about your mother earlier; she is a charming, lovely lady. I do genuinely like her. We should see to it that we spare her any unnecessary trouble or pain. So it likely wouldn't be a good idea to tell her too much about what I just confided to you about the boys and me, or the way you partied with them, and such things. Don't you agree?"

**.:.**

_AN: Almost done here; there's only a little epilogue left ..._


	4. Epilogue

**Collectibles**

**.:.**

**4. Epilogue**

It took them a bit of an effort, but they were finally able to calm the authorities and explain all that had gone down at the lodge as the result of a terrible misunderstanding. All accusations were formally dropped.

After five days, Paul was allowed to leave the hospital, which made some nurses rather unhappy and teary-eyed. Dwayne followed after two weeks, having awoken on the day after his surgery. David's injuries were more serious, so he was kept under for four days and needed to stay at the hospital for nearly a month – which he hated, of course. The stay and the visits of the boys drove the hospital staff mad – the (straight) males with exasperation, the (straight) females with other feelings.

David was severely disgruntled, but he _did _see that he had made several mistakes where Michael was concerned, and he and the boys agreed to take him back – if he still wanted to be one of them, that was. It turned out that he did. After that memorable night, they all agreed without words to tone it down a bit where drugs were concerned, relying mainly on weed and booze for the time being. It seemed safer to all of them.

Lucy was touched to tears by Max forgiving her sons for almost killing his boys – whom he introduced as some kind of wards to her. She visited them all several times at the hospital, causing some half funny, half embarrassing situations by her attempts at mothering them. She was almost instantly adopted by Paul though, who adored her cookies, yet told her he would like them even more if there were a little something in them to lighten his hospital-depressed mood. The next time, she actually brought him hash cookies – but that was when he had already been released and was staying at Max's.

It was then and through a slightly stoned Paul that she found out about Max and the boys. She had had a strange feeling about Max right from the start, as if he were too good to be true, and, sadly, it turned out that he was. The resulting talk she had with Paul and Marko, who was summoned by Paul for reinforcement, was awkward at best, but they assured her that they were neither exploited nor abused, and were, in fact, quite pleased with the arrangement. Additional and equally awkward conversations with Dwayne and David followed before Lucy eventually addressed Max himself on the matter.

It happened before Dwayne and David were back home again, both still forced to stay at the hospital. Max and Lucy were finally able to have a dinner without any interruption – it wasn't exactly as pleasant as planned though. Max was very uncomfortable when confronted by Lucy. She told him in no uncertain terms that he would deeply regret it if he ever put his paws anywhere near Sam. She also told him that Michael was technically of age and could make his own decisions, but that she would not tolerate him dropping out of high school to become somebody's boy toy. Highly embarrassed, Max apologized to her, and vowed to stay away from Sam, and, even more embarrassed, to not make advances to Michael before he had finished school. He then told her that he really _did_ like her, and that he hoped that they could be friends. Lucy answered that they could, if he proved to her that he was worth her friendship, and promised not to lie to her again, at least not where important matters were concerned. Feeling very relieved, he promised.

Lucy and Max combined convinced Michael to finish high school – he had only a year left, after all. Maybe it helped that Max announced that he would buy him a new bike if he emerged from it with halfway decent grades – et honi soit qui mal y pense.*

Edgar and Alan were very upset to find themselves and their parents in the focus of several unpleasant authorities, not least the youth welfare office. As a result, the whole Frog family was forced to go to drug rehab. The brothers desperately needed both a legal guardian, since their parents lost custody because of their addiction, and someone to run the shop while they were unable to do so. Sam would have loved to, but couldn't, at least not full time, since he had to go to school. Michael might have, but only in the evenings too, and he didn't know much about comics.

Since the Frog brothers seemed so very desperate, Max had an idea he himself thought formidable. Lucy had told him that it wouldn't do to continue to spoil his boys like he was currently doing, and he secretly agreed. What would happen if they got older? They had almost no formal education, no legal profession ...

So Max came up with the plan to have his boys run the shop, taking turns in doing so. To his dismay, almost all of the people involved seemed to be appalled by the idea. But the Frogs had really no other options left, since they couldn't exactly pay decently for an employee, and with Max promising to add a bit to their wages, at least Marko and Dwayne finally agreed to try it out. After a few days, they were surprised to realize that they actually liked working at the store. They cajoled Paul into joining them, and with Michael and Sam helping out in the evenings, they could take turns and work shifts. That was the point where David caved and grudgingly fell into line, for he didn't like to be left out of anything, even if it was just running a measly comic shop.

As far as the guardianship for Edgar and Alan was concerned, Lucy agreed to apply for it. She didn't plan on taking the brothers in though, only on looking after them a bit and helping them with the paperwork. They were already fifteen and sixteen after all, and quite used to care for themselves. Since her chances as a single mother weren't that good, she wrote on the form that she was about to be married to one Maximilian Drake, who was, of course, none other than Max. She did not really intend to make him her husband, but thought that once she got the guardianship, the authorities likely wouldn't take it away from her only because that announced marriage never came to be. She was right.

Sam was warned by both Lucy and Michael to be a bit wary around Max, but it turned out that there was really no need for that, for Max stayed true to his promise. To everyone's surprise, and not least to his own, Sam actually turned out to be almost completely heterosexual in the end, and found himself a girlfriend at the age of fifteen.

Star and Laddie were very happy to stay with the Emersons on Lucy's invitation, but she and Michael never became a couple. She did reconcile with David and the boys though, and got herself a job at a small boutique on the Boardwalk.

Grandpa complained about all the company in his house, as was his custom. Nevertheless, he appeared to secretly enjoy all the new people hanging around. He and Paul found some common ground in their love for certain plants, while Dwayne shared his passion for old-timers. Marko loved to help with the horses. David however, though generally on good terms with Grandpa, refused to ever enter his taxidermy workshop (again).

After some time, Max was able to add Michael to his collection of fine boys – but he never got Sam. That, however, is another story …

**.:.**

**The End.**

**.:.**

_* Ancient French for "Shame be to him who thinks evil of it."_

_AN: And they lived happily ever after ... ;-)_

_My thanks go to Rae Maxwell and EvilFalconOfDoom. Your reviews were a motivation as well as an inspiration to me. :-)_


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